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J E Fanale

Publications and source records attributed to J E Fanale.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

The acute and long-term care interface. Integrating the continuum.

Acute and long-term care traditionally have been distinctly different health care services, separated by reimbursement mechanisms, types and numbers of providers, and overall approach to the management of chronic illness. Considerable effort has been made of late, primarily due to financial incentives, to integrate these two levels of care into a "seamless" continuum. Barriers to such an integration process must first be identified. Physician and other health care providers will need to develop the tools and resources necessary to manage frail, chronically ill patients in settings other than the traditional acute care hospital, as well as to develop information systems that allow communication to flow easily between all levels of care. As subacute or transitional care becomes a central piece of a health care delivery system, those tools become critical to the provision of quality, integrated care.

Acute Disease↗

The incidence of attempted CPR in nursing homes.

We studied the frequency with which cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is attempted on residents of American nursing homes. Each author (all members of the Clinical Practice Committee of the American Geriatrics Society) completed a questionnaire in 1989 about policy and practice regarding CPR during 1988 in each of three to seven nursing homes, by questioning the medical or nursing director or the administrator. Because of the vagaries of nursing home record-keeping, data from some homes were allowed when they were "accurate to within 10%." Data from 58 nursing homes, totalling 10,836 bed-years were available. In 33 of these homes, accounting for 5,425 bed-years, CPR was never attempted. CPR was more likely to be foregone in nursing homes with religious affiliation than in nursing homes without (13 of 17 vs 18 of 38; chi 2 = 4.0; P less than 0.05). Religious affiliation was unknown for three nursing homes. Academic affiliation (10 of 16 vs 20 of 37 in non-affiliated nursing homes) and non-profit status (14 of 19 vs 16 of 23 in for-profit nursing homes) did not significantly affect the likelihood that CPR would never be used. In 31 of 54 nursing homes with explicit do not resuscitate (DNR) policies, CPR was never performed, compared to 2 of 4 homes without such policies. For nursing homes with complete data, there were 1,196 deaths in 32 facilities where CPR was never attempted compared to 1,294 deaths for 24 nursing homes with CPR. For 22 nursing homes without CPR, there were 2,172 emergency room transfers compared to 1,363 emergency room transfers in 18 nursing homes where CPR was attempted.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Aged↗

The role of medication noncompliance and adverse drug reactions in hospitalizations of the elderly.

We interviewed 315 consecutive elderly patients admitted to an acute care hospital to determine the percentage of elderly hospital admissions due to noncompliance with medication regimens or adverse drug reactions, their causes, consequences, and predictors. Eighty-nine of the elderly admissions (28.2%) were drug related, 36 due to noncompliance (11.4%), and 53 due to adverse drug reactions (16.8%). One hundred three patients had a history of noncompliance (32.7%). Factors statistically associated with a higher risk of hospitalization due to noncompliance were poor recall of medication regimen, seeing numerous physicians, female, medium income category, use of numerous medications, and having the opinion that medications are expensive. Factors associated with an increased risk of an admission due to an adverse drug reaction were use of numerous different medications, higher medication costs, receiving Medicaid, and not receiving any home services. In conclusion, many elderly admissions are drug related; noncompliance accounting for a substantial fraction of these. Elders at high risk of being noncompliant are identifiable using a variety of criteria. Economic factors were important in predicting admissions due to noncompliance as well as adverse drug reactions.

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Impact of staff education on pressure sore development in elderly hospitalized patients.

To test the hypothesis that an educational program alone without the introduction of new technology could result in both higher quality care and cost savings, the incidence of development of pressure sores among patients over the age of 65 years was concurrently reviewed before and after an education program developed and disseminated by a skin care team composed of physicians and nurses. Before the education program, 18 (14.6%) of 123 patients with no pressure sores developed pressure sores during their hospital admission. After the education program, only six (5.4%) of 105 patients who entered the hospital with intact skin developed a pressure sore during their hospital stay. The data show that an educational program was effective in decreasing by 63% the development of pressure sores in an elderly hospitalized population. Furthermore, a cost savings of $74,372 in the use of special care beds was realized.

Aged↗